Iowa Caucuses 2020: Bernie Sanders' fate depends on a high voter turnout
The Iowa Caucuses, the first test of the 2020 presidential election, were underway on Monday, February 3. The Democratic camp is more in the headlines since a number of candidates are eyeing the nomination. The caucuses closed at 8 pm ET and the results were expected to come shortly after.
The Iowa Caucuses are particularly significant for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The 78-year-old is running for the presidency the second time and in 2016, he finished a close second to Hillary Clinton who has not spared any effort to defame the former this time. But that hasn’t affected Sanders much who has gained momentum in the run-up to the caucuses even as he shuttled between the Hawkeye State and Washington where he needed to be present for the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
The veteran socialist campaigner’s fate in Iowa this time could be determined by the degree of voter turnout. A higher turnout among the working class, young and Latino electorate will certainly help him rewrite the results in Iowa this time. A win in Iowa also helps Democratic candidates as they mostly go on to bag the nomination.
A win in Iowa will see Sanders heading to New Hampshire, the next state to go to polling, where he had defeated Hillary in 2016. Two out of two would take Sanders that much closer to the finishing line to take on Trump.
Engaging with Latinos and the working-class in Iowa
Sanders’ team in Iowa has been engaging with Latino communities and people in parts of the state that traditionally do not show up much on the caucus night. It even organized soccer matches and carried out aggressive advertising campaigns on radio in Spanish. It also targeted Casey’s stores around Iowa to draw the attention of the working-class who shop at those stores.
The Latinos constitute only about seven percent of the Hawkeye State’s population but since the population is young, Sanders’ campaign looks to win its blessing so that he gets a boost if things get really tight.
The Democrats’ internal ideological division makes it challenging for any particular candidate to sweep the others and all of them will be looking for a strong start in Iowa to get the initial momentum. For candidates like Sanders who identify more with the Left, a good outcome in Iowa will excite his supporters about the strengthening of a new progressive coalition.